Hamilton County commissioners are pushing for FC Cincinnati to make Paul Brown Stadium along the riverfront its permanent home and the county’s legal team says the Bengals’ lease allows for that to happen.

“We’ve got two great stadiums on the riverfront,” Portune told the Business Courier. “We released the legal analysis of what we can do on our own at Paul Brown to push the envelope on this issue. We’re going to run that to its full conclusion.”

Paul Brown Stadium’s configuration was altered to allow for a professional-sized soccer field in the stadium’s design.

Hamilton County taxpayers have been paying for the stadium for the last 20-something years and I “think it's about time that we might be able to use the lease that's been such a burden on us to our advantage here,” Monzel said. “Hopefully we can turn that finally into something that we can use instead of just an albatross around our necks.”

Portune is focusing on a Sept. 16 statement from MLS commissioner Don Garber that he interprets as Garber backing away from the league’s requirement that cities offer soccer-specific stadia in order to land a franchise.

The Orlando Sentinel asked Garber about the requirement after 70,000 people showed up to watch an MLS match in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is the home of both the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and MLS's Atlanta United. Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank owns both teams.

“The good thing about being new and trying to figure it out as you go along is you have a specific plan and then there are times when you have to modify that plan. I think good business leaders and good businesses, ya know, don’t just get stuck in their previous strategies but try to evolve and see how things develop,” Garber said. “We really wanted a soccer stadium here and Arthur said, ‘Hey, this stadium I’m going to build is going to be the best in the world, it’s going to be world class, we’re going to fill it up.’ And he did. So, I don’t know that that changes our point of view in any other market, but certainly when I see what’s happening here and in Seattle, I’m happy that we have stadiums that can have 70,000 people in ’em.”

Under the Bengals’ lease, the county now has the right to negotiate with a professional soccer franchise to use Paul Brown Stadium, according to a memo from attorney Roger Friedmann to county administrator Jeff Aluotto. The Bengals could try to bring their own soccer franchise to fill the stadium, but that is considered unlikely.

The Bengals also receive half of the parking revenue and “use fee” for the stadium and all concession, gift shop and advertising revenue from events, even if the game in question is not one in which the Bengals are playing.

Asked whether he believes the Bengals would give up such rights if FC Cincinnati decided it could use Paul Brown Stadium, Portune said, “all we can do is engage the team now that we have identified what we are able on our own to do. I simply ask of the Bengals … if this will work, if this will allow FC to get MLS designation, we hope they will be willing to work with everybody … so that that can happen.”

A spokeswoman for the Bengals declined to comment.

On Monday, Berding outlined the parameters for how FC Cincinnati believes the public could contribute half of the estimated $200 million stadium cost without using revenue from the county sales tax.